True Americans
by J. B. Tilton
Summary: When Prue and Piper visit Phoebe at school during the attack on the World Trade Center, they become involved in a confrontation between some students who approach a student of Saudi Arabian descent.
1. Default Chapter

CHARMED "True Americans"  
by J. B. Tilton email: PG-14 (for rough language)

Disclaimer: "Charmed" and all related characters and events are the property of the WB television network, except for those characters specifically created for this story. This is a work of fan fiction and no infringement of copyright is intended.

(Authors note: It was necessary for me to take some minor liberties with this story. The attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the airliner that crashed in Pennsylvania occurred between seasons 3 and 4 of Charmed and technically Prue had already died. I hope my readers will forgive the inconsistency between this story and the Charmed timeline. This is my tribute to those brave souls who perished on that horrible day in American and world history. It is based on an actual incident reported in the news following that terrible disaster.)

When Prue and Piper visit Phoebe at school during the attack on the World Trade Center, they become involved in a confrontation between some students who approach a student of Saudi Arabian descent.

ONE

Prue locked the door to her car as Piper walked around to join her. Piper checked her watch as she stepped up next to her sister.

"We'd better hurry," Piper said. "I think Phoebe's psyche class starts in about fifteen minutes. I hope we can find the classroom before she gets there."

"Well, we'll just ask one of the students," Prue said. "As I remember it, most of the classes are held in the same building. There has to be a psych building around here somewhere."

"Lot of students here," Piper said, looking around. "Boy, does this bring back memories. Too bad Phoebe didn't go to college right out of high school like we did. It has to be different being older than most of the other students."

"School wasn't exactly a high priority for Phoebe when she was that age," Prue said. "She's lucky she graduated high school."

"You have to admit she's grown up a lot," Piper said. "Especially in the past couple of years."

"Yeah, I'll have to give her that," Prue said. "I don't say it enough but I'm actually very proud of her. I never would have dreamed she'd become a responsible person. But you're right. She's a lot more responsible than she was even three or four years ago."

"Hey, there's a student," Piper said, pointing to a young girl walking toward them. "Let's see if she knows where the psyche building is."

As they walked toward the young woman they both noticed she had been crying. Even now, tears hung at the sides of her eyes. She clutched a tissue in one hand and constantly dabbed at her eyes.

"Excuse me," Prue said, "we're looking for the psych building. Do you know where it is?"

"Yes," said the woman, obviously holding back the tears. "It's right through that archway and to your left. Just past the student union. You can't miss it."

"Thank you," Piper said. "Are you okay?"

"It's just so horrible," said the woman. "My father is in New York for a meeting. I have no idea if he's okay or not. I'm sorry, I don't mean to be rude but I have to get home."

"Sure, go on," Prue said.

"I guess her father was in an accident or something," Piper said as the young woman walked away.

"We should be so lucky," said Prue, just a hint of disgust in her voice.

"You don't mean that," Piper said. "He has changed some. He may never be the model father, but at least he's trying."

"I guess so," said Prue. "Come on. We'd better hurry if we want to catch Phoebe before she gets to class."

The two sisters hurried through the archway the young woman had pointed out to them. 


	2. Chapter 2

TWO

As Prue and Piper walked across the campus they noticed that things seemed a bit tense. More than a few people appeared to be crying. And they noticed several heated discussions going on between small groups of students.

"I don't remember it like this," Prue said. "This seems more like a reform school than a college campus."

"I know what you mean," Piper said, glancing into the student union. "Can you feel the tension in the air? I wonder what's going on?"

"I don't know," Prue said. "Phoebe's never mentioned anything like this before. I wonder if she notices it or if she just thinks it's normal."

"I don't know," Piper said, looking at the television playing in the union. "They must be watching some kind of war movie or something in there. It must be good. Everyone seems really engrossed in it."

The student union was a cafeteria-like area for the students attending the university. It had a small snack bar and tables where the students could sit and relax between classes. To one side of the union were the mailboxes where the students received their mail. At the moment, several dozen students sat in the union intensely watching the television that showed a large building burning.

"That looks like the World Trade Center," said Prue, looking at the television. I know I don't watch that many movies but I don't recall a movie where they blew up the World Trade Center. Maybe it's a new movie."

"Prue," Piper said uncomfortably, "that doesn't look like a movie. That reporter in the foreground? He's one of the reporters on the nightly news. What would he be doing in a movie?"

"Let's check this out," Prue said. "I'm starting to get a bad feeling about this."

The two walked into the student union and were virtually unnoticed by the students in the room. Each one of them sat staring at the television, not even glancing at them as they walked in.

"The towers are both burning heavily now," said the reporter on the television. "Dozens of people have already been evacuated but there are still hundreds more inside, many trapped on the upper floors. All streets for several blocks in all directions have been closed off as fire and police officials rush in to help get as many out of the building as possible. The mayor has ordered the evacuation of all building within a six block radius of the Trade Center towers."

"Boy, that's realistic," said Prue to Piper. "Amazing what they can do with special effects these days."

"Those aren't special effects," said an older gentlemen walking up to them. "I'm Marshall Thomas, one of the professors here. You mean you haven't heard what's happened?"

"Heard what?" asked Piper. "We just got here. We came to visit our sister."

"The World Trade Center has been attacked," said a young man sitting near them. There was undisguised anger in his voice. "Two planes crashed into the towers. This is live."

"What?" Prue asked, unable to believe what she was hearing. "Are you serious? Who would do something like that?"

"We don't really know much yet," said Professor Thomas. "Some reports say it was terrorists, but that hasn't been confirmed yet."

"It's the goddamned Arabs," said another angry young man, sitting at another table. "One of those fanatical groups that hates Americans. They're the ones who did this."

"That's only speculation at this point," said Professor Thomas. "Let's not jump to conclusions. Let's wait and see what happens."

"This is horrible," said Piper. "No wonder that girl was crying in the parking lot. She said her father was in New York. She must be frantic."

"Oh my God," screamed one of the girls in the union.

Everyone turned and watched as first one and the then second towers suddenly collapsed, falling to the street below. Many of the women in the union began to cry openly. No one could say a word. They simply stared at the gigantic dust cloud that formed from the collapsing buildings and the sight of hundreds of people rushing to get away from it.

"They said there were still people in those towers," said a stunned Thomas. "Hundreds may have just died."

No one else spoke. They could only sit and stare at the horrible destruction the television cameras were showing to the entire world. 


	3. Chapter 3

THREE

Prue and Piper hurried across the grounds of the university campus. It hadn't been hard to get directions to Phoebe's classroom. One of her classmates had been in the union and had told them exactly where it was. Many of the professors had already announced their classes were cancelled for the rest of the day and it was expected that the Chancellor would cancel them all very shortly.

As they hurried to the psych building, the two sisters saw small groups of people gathered around the campus. Many were crying, others were talking, nearly shouting, angrily. Everyone was in shock. Some of the older teachers involved in some of the conversations made mention of Pearl Harbor in 1941. Everyone was on edge.

As Prue and Piper reached the psych building, Phoebe and several other students were just coming out. She looked up to see her two older sisters and just stared at them for a minute.

"What are you guys doing here?" she asked.

"I was taking Piper to work and we figured we'd stop off and say hi," Prue said. "I guess you heard the news. It's all over campus apparently."

"It's all over the news, too," Phoebe said. "My psych professor has had CNN on all morning. They say the President is going to address the nation shortly. Talk is that it was a terrorist attack. Apparently they hijacked some commercial airliners and used them as weapons, crashing them into the two towers."

"Didn't Tom Clancy write a story something like that a few years back?" Piper asked.

"Yeah, I think so," Phoebe said. "I didn't know you liked those kinds of books."

"Just his," Piper said. "Who would have ever thought it would really happen."

"That's not all," said a young man just coming out of the building. "There's a report that another airliner crashed into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. And something about another one in Pennsylvania somewhere. The reports on that one are kind of sketchy."

"Tom Harkens, my sisters, Prue and Piper," Phoebe said, introducing the three.

"Hi," said Tom. "Nice to meet you. Phoebe, I need to get going. I'm sure my dad is going to be on alert. I should get home so I can be with my mom."

"Sure, Tom," Phoebe said, "I'll see you later."

Tom turned and hurried toward the parking lot.

"His dad is a career army officer," Phoebe said. "He's stationed in Germany right now."

"That has to be rough," said Prue. "If it was terrorists, they'll probably put the whole nation on alert."

"Well, my classes have all been cancelled for the day," Phoebe said. "A lot of the professors said they probably wouldn't have any tomorrow, either. And more than a few of the students are trying to get flights back to New York. Considering how it was done, I'm betting there aren't going to be any flights at all for at least a few days."

"Phoebe, what about friends you had in New York?" asked Piper. "Do you think any of them might have been in the towers this morning?"

"Probably not," Phoebe said. "Most of the World Trade Center was offices and such. And none of my friends would have gone shopping in any of the stores there. Still, I am going to make a few phone calls when I get home. Just to be sure."

"Well, don't worry about the phone bill," Prue said. "Considering the circumstances, I think Piper and I can help foot the bill for it."

"Thanks guys," Phoebe said. "I appreciate it. There are a couple of friends I'm really worried about. One was a teacher who worked about two blocks from the towers."

"Phoebe," asked Piper, "do you know who that is?"

Phoebe looked where Piper was pointing. A young man was collecting some books and papers he had apparently dropped. He looked to be a bit younger than Phoebe but it was apparent he was of Arab descent. As he collected his books, five boys wearing lettermen jackets were walking toward him.

"Oh, great," Phoebe said. "That's Rashid Fashi. His parents came over from Saudi Arabia before he was born. The big guy in the letterman jacket is Gregg Harken. He's the captain of the football team. I don't know any of the others."

"Well, it looks like there's going to be some trouble," Prue said. "And I don't like the odds. I think we'd better get over there. Things could get real ugly real fast."

Hurriedly, the three sisters began to move toward the six young men. 


	4. Chapter 4

FOUR

Before the sisters could reach Rashid, the five jocks surrounded the small boy. He pushed his glasses up on his face and stood looking at them, fear showing in his eyes. The five older boys towered over him. It was clear why these five played football. And it was equally clear they were all good friends who probably stuck together in whatever they did.

"Rashid," said Gregg, "you sit next to me in Trig. You're Arab, aren't you?"

"Actually, I was born in San Francisco," said Rashid, glancing nervously at around at the five boys. "But my parents are from Saudi Arabia, if that's what you mean."

"Yeah, that's what I mean," said Gregg. "That's an Arab county, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is," said Rashid. "But like I said, I was born in San Francisco. I'm an American, just like you."

"You hear about what happened?" asked one of the other students wearing a letterman jacket.

"In New York?" questioned Rashid. "Yes, I heard. It's kind of hard not to. It's all over the news."

"That's right," said Gregg. "Word is that it was Arab extremists who did it. Hijacked some American airliners and used them as bombs. They're saying that hundreds, maybe thousands, of people died today because of it."

"I heard the same thing," said Rashid. "It's terrible."

"Yeah, it is," said another boy wearing a letterman jacket.

"We just thought we'd escort you to the rest of your classes today," said Gregg. "At least until we find out if there are going to be any more classes today. And after school we'll give you a ride home."

"I don't know," began Rashid.

"Hey, Gregg, teach that towel head a lesson," called a student passing near by. "Show him that him and his camel jockey friends can't do that to us and get away with it."

"Mueller," said Gregg, turning to the boy, "you sit in front of me in physics. How would you like it if I started calling you that dirty Kraut in my physics class? I'm willing to bet you wouldn't like it very much, would you?"

"No, I wouldn't," said Mueller, perplexed at the question.

"Well, we don't like the terms 'towel head' or 'camel jockey' either," said another of the boys in the letterman jackets. "Or any of the other dirty little terms you might have for our buddy here. And if we hear you using them again you might just find how much we don't like them. Understood?"

"Y... yeah," said Mueller, turning and hurrying away as fast as he could.

"What do you say?" Gregg asked Rashid. "There's bound to be a few more like that around campus. Aren't many of them going to bother you with us hanging around."

"Really?" asked Rashid, noticeably relaxing. "I figured you guys would be like Mueller. A lot of people are going to blame any Arab they see for what happened."

"Hey," said one of the boys wearing a letterman jacket, "jock doesn't mean stupid. You can't help what nationality you are. Just like guys like Mueller can't help being a narrow minded bigot."

"So, what do you say?" Gregg asked Rashid, winking at him. "Care for a little company? Might even help your social status being seen with us."

"Thanks," said Rashid. "I appreciate it. I've seen a few angry stares thrown my way since the news broke."

"Well," said Gregg putting his arm around the boy as if they were old friends, "we'll make sure that doesn't happen again. Besides, you can give me a hand with my Trig homework. It's kicking my ass."

"I'd be glad to," said Rashid, smiling as the five boys escorted him to his next class.

"I'll be damned," said Prue. "I would have sworn there was going to be some trouble there."

"Just goes to show you," said Phoebe. "People can always surprise you."

"Come on," said Piper. "Let's get home. Phoebe has some phone calls to make and I want to turn on the news. I think I'll keep the club closed for tonight. I don't think too many people are going to feel like partying just now."

"Good idea," said Prue.

Together the three sisters turned and headed for Prue's car.

The End

If you've enjoyed this story, you can find more "Charmed" stories at my website, You can also post your own "Charmed" stories if you like to write fan fiction. 


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